Archive for October, 2017

If you were bleeding and in need of a tourniquet . . . Would you attempt to negotiate price and/or terms? How about something less graphic like; If your car broke down; Would you negotiate price and terms with the tow truck company? I mean needless to say, you wouldn’t let someone flat out rob […]

Prior to working for Consolidated Graphics. Paul was the Director Of Corporate Solutions Sales for Dale Carnegie & Associates and the owner of two successful businesses.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

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If you were bleeding and in need of a tourniquet . . . Would you attempt to negotiate price and/or terms? How about something less graphic like; If your car broke down; Would you negotiate price and terms with the tow truck company? I mean needless to say, you wouldn’t let someone flat out rob […]

Prior to working for Consolidated Graphics. Paul was the Director Of Corporate Solutions Sales for Dale Carnegie & Associates and the owner of two successful businesses.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

Comments Off on If You Were Bleeding And In Need Of A Tourniquet . . . »

If you find yourself losing deals because of your company’s pricing, I have two thoughts for you to consider. The first, is the easier one; Maybe you courted the wrong prospect? My products, services, style and pricing AREN’T for everyone but its up to me to qualify early and often! The second thought, ISN’T easy because […]

Prior to working for Consolidated Graphics. Paul was the Director Of Corporate Solutions Sales for Dale Carnegie & Associates and the owner of two successful businesses.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

Comments Off on You Might Think You Lose Deals Because Of Price But Sometimes There’s Much More To It »

If you find yourself losing deals because of your company’s pricing, I have two thoughts for you to consider. The first, is the easier one; Maybe you courted the wrong prospect? My products, services, style and pricing AREN’T for everyone but its up to me to qualify early and often! The second thought, ISN’T easy because […]

Prior to working for Consolidated Graphics. Paul was the Director Of Corporate Solutions Sales for Dale Carnegie & Associates and the owner of two successful businesses.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

Comments Off on You Might Think You Lose Deals Because Of Price But Sometimes There’s Much More To It »

When was the last time you reviewed your negotiation tactics? You DO have a game plan for those times when a prospect/client asks you to lower your price and/or change your terms, right? This Thursday, November 2nd at 11:30 am EST, we’re going to dive head first into that topic! It all takes place during our Negotiate […]

Prior to working for Consolidated Graphics. Paul was the Director Of Corporate Solutions Sales for Dale Carnegie & Associates and the owner of two successful businesses.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

In this week’s Quick Sales Tip, I flag an area that the vast majority of sales reps miss, when it comes to creating their plan to sell more in the upcoming year. I offer a really cool FREEBIE, a few action items to help you kick ass and; The best thing about it; Is that […]

Prior to working for Consolidated Graphics. Paul was the Director Of Corporate Solutions Sales for Dale Carnegie & Associates and the owner of two successful businesses.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

Comments Off on You’re Screwed If You Don’t Include This In Your Plan For 2018 »

In this week’s Quick Sales Tip, I flag an area that the vast majority of sales reps miss, when it comes to creating their plan to sell more in the upcoming year. I offer a really cool FREEBIE, a few action items to help you kick ass and; The best thing about it; Is that […]

Prior to working for Consolidated Graphics. Paul was the Director Of Corporate Solutions Sales for Dale Carnegie & Associates and the owner of two successful businesses.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

Comments Off on If You Don’t Include This In Your Plan For 2018 You’re Screwed! »

So there you are getting beaten up on pricing and/or terms by a prospect who’s getting emotional. By “emotional” I don’t mean someone going psycho or being abusive; I mean someone who’s getting a bit animated, perhaps raising their voice slightly etc. And while one might be wise to heed the words of Michael Corleone […]

Prior to working for Consolidated Graphics. Paul was the Director Of Corporate Solutions Sales for Dale Carnegie & Associates and the owner of two successful businesses.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

Comments Off on What To Do If You Find Yourself Negotiating With An Emotional Prospect »

We spend an awful lot of time in sales talking about what to do AFTER something occurs instead of; The preventative medicine! This happens, a lot, with negotiation, in that; There are lots of things we should be doing on THE Front End to either; Reduce the probability of having to negotiate or; At least […]

Prior to working for Consolidated Graphics. Paul was the Director Of Corporate Solutions Sales for Dale Carnegie & Associates and the owner of two successful businesses.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

I put the question of what to say when someone asks you to lower your price out to my Sales Playbook Group on LinkedIn. Some fantastic thoughts followed! Thought I’d share them with you here and if by chance you’d like to know how I handle that situation, please click HERE. David King With assurance and […]

Prior to working for Consolidated Graphics. Paul was the Director Of Corporate Solutions Sales for Dale Carnegie & Associates and the owner of two successful businesses.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

Comments Off on What To Say When Someone Asks You To Lower Your Price (How Your Peers Handle It) »

For many years I thought coaches were displaced business folk who needed to pay the bills and then; Had a revelation that ended with “I know what I can do . . . I’ll coach!” Several years back I changed my thinking and miraculously enough, my results changed too! As you start putting together your […]

Prior to working for Consolidated Graphics. Paul was the Director Of Corporate Solutions Sales for Dale Carnegie & Associates and the owner of two successful businesses.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

When you type ‘avatar’ into the Google search bar the first thing that comes up is James Cameron’s “Avatar” from 2009. A sci-fi movie about blue aliens basically. About 4 entries down you’ll get to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition that says that an avatar is an incarnation in human form: an embodiment (as of a concept or philosophy) often in a person.

An avatar is a human form, an image. In the business and marketing world an image of a human form comes in many different forms; customer avatar, customer profile, ideal client, target market, persona. All pretty much meaning the same thing, a human.

Our work days consist of setting a goal, developing a strategy to meet said goal, making a plan and then executing that plan. But where is the human in that plan?

It’s easy to get caught up in forgetting about the humans that we serve with our business because there’s a deadline to meet and a goal to hit and tasks to complete and the list goes on. You get the point. But at the heart of everything in our business it’s about the people. The people we serve and the people we work with.

It isn’t uncommon for business gurus, coaches and consultants to tell you that you need to create one of these blue aliens mentioned above. They might phrase it more along the lines of understanding your target market or audience. When probed a little further on how to profile these foreign beings, they might say things like, ‘who do you like to work with?’ or, my personal favorite, ‘ask your customers lots of questions.’ OOOHHH KAAYYY. And that’s it… Well now what?

If You Build It They Will Come?

There isn’t much else out there after that advice. Marketing research seems to be a big business strategy and you are not there yet despite all your goal setting and plan execution. So then most people post a few random questions on Facebook, just make up an imaginary person and call it a day. Then wonder why that well laid out plan isn’t working the way you want it to.

I’ll tell you why. You don’t have any facts. Like real facts. About who your clients are, what their problems are and how they speak and communicate. Your imaginary friend that represents your target customer is based on you. So are you communicating a message that will attract the right people? Probably not.

Quick Tip for Building a Customer Profile

Your ideal client is not a blue alien, although at times it may seem like it. Here’s a down and dirty quick way to create a customer profile that works.

Pull out your client list and find that 1 person that is your favorite client (I know you have one, we all do, we won’t tell the others).

Email that person and invite them out to drinks or coffee or a Skype meeting if you are not in the same town.

When you meet with them ask them these 3 questions (this is in regards to what you do):

What are you struggling with the most?

What would feel like a miracle at the moment?

How do you get most of your information to solve your problems? Or in other words, how do you like to communicate?

After that interview you’ll be able to understand that person. The human that you want to work with and what her problems are. Now is the tricky part, use her words in your marketing messages. Not your words overtop of hers or business jargon interjected into it. Use her exact words. Because that’s how people talk and feel. And remember people don’t buy features, they buy feelings and results.

It’s not hard, it’s really hard. We want to overlay our thoughts, belief and knowledge onto people because we think we know what they need but that won’t resonate with them because they just don’t get it. If you want to learn more on how to research your customers and create effective profiles about blue aliens then download this handy workbook on how to Facebook stalk your clients. We’ve all gotten lost in the Facebook feed vortex so why not make it a legit business strategy.

Get your copy of “Facebook Stalking 101” written by Ronii Bartles!

Ronii is an Operations Marketing Rockstar to creative entrepreneurs who want to understand their tribe to build products + services that sell. Through her straightforward blog posts, results-driven workshops + Champagne Thursday brainstorming, she’s here to teach you how to get in the hearts + heads of your perfect clients {because there’s a little stalker in all of us} all while sipping on bubbly + making it feel like you’re partying with movie stars. And when she’s not channeling her inner detective, you can find her indulging in soul fulfilling girlfriend talk, feeding her Instagram addiction + the occasional sparkling glass of champagne (well, not so occasional).

How much did you lose this year because you felt you had to lower your price to save a deal? How much did you lose this year in lost deals because you’re not very good at negotiation? Was it more than $99? I bet it was waaaaaayyyyyy more! Last question? If you lost money this year, […]

Prior to working for Consolidated Graphics. Paul was the Director Of Corporate Solutions Sales for Dale Carnegie & Associates and the owner of two successful businesses.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

So here we are, rapidly approaching year end! Most of us in sales are thinking about how we can finish strong and; Begin the new year STRONGER! I have 3 FREE resources to help! Resource #1: 300 Audio Sales Lessons. Actually, that isn’t entirely true! I meant to say that I have 300 audio sales […]

Prior to working for Consolidated Graphics. Paul was the Director Of Corporate Solutions Sales for Dale Carnegie & Associates and the owner of two successful businesses.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

If you find yourself constantly getting beaten up on your price, terms, delivery etc; This FREE sales lesson is for you! And no, we’re NOT going to talk about how to respond to prospects/clients who want better pricing, terms, etc; We’re going to talk about what to do on the front end of your deals […]

Prior to working for Consolidated Graphics. Paul was the Director Of Corporate Solutions Sales for Dale Carnegie & Associates and the owner of two successful businesses.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

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